Abstract

This dissertation examines the production and reception of pan-ethnic identities and group relations of three Chinese migrant groups in Australia. In this dissertation I answer the questions why some people identify themselves as “Hua-Ren” in some contexts, but claim they are “not Hua-Ren” in other contexts, as well as why intergroup competition/discrimination does not contribute to a broader pan-ethnic identity. When speaking of “Chinese” or “Hua-Ren,” there seems to be little consensus. In Australia, the ambiguity of the Chinese status not only leads to complicated situations with political and cultural tensions among people from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, it also influences the race relations between Chinese and Australians. However, few studies have systematically examined the complex differences between national and pan-ethnic identities. Nor have studies discussed whether, how, and to what degree national and pan-ethnic identities become stronger or weaker in different social settings, nor how they shape and transform national identities and group relations among PRC-Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kongese. In other words, this dissertation explores differences in the interpretation of Hua-Ren identity within shifting contexts. I argue that pan-ethnicity is neither shaped voluntarily nor imposed by the mainstream society. Instead, it is a matter of what people subjectively interpret or believe about differences or not within shifting contexts. Pan-ethnic identity can thus become a tool of exploitation and intensification of ethnic stereotype in the cash-in-hand labor market; a strategy of managing differences and making/unmaking group boundary in the workplace; a process through which national identity is shifted to pan-ethnic identity in various ethnic networks and community organizations; and a collectivity whether people adopt or reject in their everyday interactions with a non-Chinese group. In sum, this dissertation theorizes the formation and block of overseas Chinese identity, as well as what conditions favoring national or pan-ethnic identity.